infocom/articles/NZT-name-text

WINTER 1984 - THE NEW ZORK TIMES - PAGE 3
Copyright (c) 1984 Infocom, Inc.

A Zork By Any Other Name

Have you arrested the murderer in our mystery thriller "Was It
Murder?"  Or found the alien artifact in "Celestus"?  Or maybe met a
somewhat childish robot in "Lost Planet"?  No, those aren't the names
of our newest games -- in fact, they're rejected names for some
existing ones (can you guess which?).  As a player, you've probably
taken the names of our games for granted.  We didn't.  And if you
think that writing the games is tough, you should have been there when
we named them.

To be honest, some names were easier than others.  _Zork_, for
example, was simple, since it was used by some of the founders of
Infocom back in 1977, when the game was first written.  At that time
the only other "adventure" game was the original Adventure, and
authors Marc Blank and Tim Anderson were at a complete loss in
thinking up a good name for their new game.  Since they wanted people
to play it, and since you can't run a nameless program, they needed
something quick.  Blank chose Zork, a nonsense word commonly used at
the MIT Lab for Computer Science as an all-purpose interjection.  He
figured that he would think of something else later, but the name
stuck (he never did come up with anything better, anyway) and survives
to this day.

As an aside, the original _Zork_ had well over 200 rooms, a vocabulary
of nearly 1000 words, and required a mainframe computer with over a
megabyte of memory!  Infocom's _Zork_ trilogy has about twice the
material of the original mainframe _Zork_ in about one quarter of a
megabyte.  That's progress.

When Marc Blank started writing Infocom's first mystery, he
tentatively called it "Was It Murder?"  After all, it looked like a
suicide.  The name was distinctly bland, but nobody around Infocom
could think of anything better (give us a break, we had only three
employees).  We gave the problem to our ad agency, Giardini/Russell
(G/R), who came up with the name _Deadline_ along with its distinctive
logo.

Dave Lebling gave his science fiction scenario a working title of "A
Gift From Space".  Nobody's socks were knocked off, so we gave G/R
another shot.  They proposed five possible titles: Celestus, The
Linking, Alien Intercept, Stardate: 2186, and _Starcross_.  Celestus
didn't have the right down-at-the-heels image for your ship's name.
The Linking sounded too much like a Stephen King novel.  Alien
Intercept begged for a joystick.  And Stardate: 2186 wasn't even good
enough for a Star Trek episode.  _Starcross_, however, with its
reference to the stars and its similarity to the word starcrossed, had
the right sort of feel, and was selected.

We did a little better internally with some of our recent games.  Mike
Berlyn's _Suspended_ was originally called Suspension (Suspenders,
affectionately) for the main character's state of suspended animation,
but _Suspended_ seemed to work a little better.  Stu Galley's
1930's-style mystery, in which the player is actually present at the
time of a murder, led us to immediately think of the title Witness.
G/R suggested changing this slightly to _The Witness_, a title more in
keeping with titles in the Raymond Chandler era.  _Enchanter_, written
by Blank and Lebling, had its name before it was even started.  It
just sounded right and its only serious competition was Zork IV.  A
strenuous argument raged for weeks: was it a _Zork_ or wasn't it.  It
wasn't.

_Planetfall_ was titled Sole Survivor by its author, Steve Meretzky,
and later shortened to just Survivor.  When we discovered another game
called Survivor, we decided we'd rather switch than fight.  G/R went
to it again and submitted a list about 30 long, their favorite of
which was Lost Planet.  Reaction was less than enthusiastic, not the
least because it reminded two of us of the TV series, Lost in Space.
Blank suggested _Planetfall_ during a long, frustrating meeting -- he
thought he had seen it once in an SF book as a word meaning arrival on
a new planet (much like landfall).  Nobody really believed him, but it
was never improved upon.

Our first Tale of Adventure might have been called Pyramid.  Though
uninspired, it was used through the game's initial testing and had a
loyal following due to its descriptive nature.  G/R was unimpressed
and suggested _Infidel_.  Infocom was unimpressed: it sounded more
like something from the Crusades than an exploration for a lost
pyramid.  But in combination with its distinctive logo and the
proposed package design, we relented.  We even changed the game a bit
to make it work better.

That takes us to the present.  As this newsletter appears, we will be
releasing the sequent to Enchanter, Spellbreaker.  No that's no right
-- I think it's Spellbound.  Or was it _Sorcerer_?  I don't know,
really.  And I don't care.  I'm just glad I'm not working on ad
copy.

CLASSIFIEDS

FOR SALE: Twenty valuable treasures.  Someone just left them in the
trophy case in my living room.  How about that?!  Write to Ellron,
White House in the Clearing, Forest of Zork 9060

FOR SALE: Three-headed dog, cheap. Used to be fierce guard dog, now
just slobbers over everyone.  Very friendly, upkeep low -- one dragon
carcass a day should satisfy it.  Contact Boris Flathead, Keeper of
the Tomb.

FOR SALE: Single-person mining ship, perfect for asteroid belt.
Equipped with personable navigation computer.  A beauty; hate to part
with it but am leaving quantum black hole biz to go on lecture
circuit.  Write Box 3, Ceres Station.

WANTED: Gardener for large estate.  Last one quit in huff.  Grounds
include rose garden and orchard.  Generous salary.  Send references to
Leslie Robner, 506 Lakeview Road, Maitland, CT.

WANTED: Authentic working Enchanter's wand.  Last one stolen by
upstart adventurer.  Will pay top dollar.  Contact Wizard of Frobozz,
in Exile, Remote Corner of the Great Underground Empire 9133.

WANTED: More reliable manufacturer of integrated circuits.  Current
brand failed at inopportune moment.  Please send brochure to: Ignatz
Feroukin, Planetary Management Bureau, Contra, Sector 19G.

IT IS WHAT IT EATS.

"Caviar in, caviar out." This adage fits just one brand of computer
game software.  Because nothing else stimulates your imagination and
challenges your computer's capabilities like Infocom prose games.  Our
secret?  We put you inside our stories.  And once within, you'll find
a dimension alive with situations, personalities, and logical puzzles
that can't be experienced anywhere outside our stories.

Step up to Infocom.  All words.  No pictures.  The secret reaches of
your mind are beckoning.  The next dimension is in there waiting for
you.

(For more information on Infocom games contact: Infocom, Inc., P.O.
Box 855, Garden City, NY 11530.)

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